Controlling device.



L. L. TATUM.

CONTROLLING DEVICE APPLICATION 'FILED my 24. 1912.

UNITED sTATEs PATENT oEEioE.

LEWIS L. 'I'ATUM,. OF MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN, ASSIG-NOR TO THE CUTLER-HAMMER MFG. C0., OE MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN, A CORPORATION OF WISCONSIN.

CONTROLLING DEVICE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 31, 191 '7 'Application iea may 24,` 1912. serial N. 699,541.

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, LEWIS L. TATUM, a citizen of the United States, residing at Milwaukee, in the county of Milwaukee and State of Wisconsin, have invented new and useful Improvements 1n Controlling Devices, of which the following is a full, clear, concise, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawing,

forming a part of this "specification understood,'however, -that my invention is not limited in its application to such devices. Y

The various 'objects and advantages of my invention will be hereinafter clearly and fully set forth. v

For the purpose of disclosing the nature and characteristic features f my invention I have schematically illustrated in the ac-l companying drawings certain embodiments thereof. -My invention, however, is not limited to the specific embodiments thereof selected for 'the purpose of illustration.

In'the accompanying drawings Figure l is a schematic view showing a controller suitable for operating a single device or a' group of devices connected to operate in unison, and

Fig.4 2 is a schematic view showing al controller for a plurality of separate devices.

Referring to Fig. l, I have schematically shown the dimmer-plate l of a well known construction. This plate has a double ended controlling arm 2 movable over a circular set of contacts 3. The arm 2 is adapted to be moved in a well known manner, by a rack member 4 meshing with a pinion 2a on the hub of the arm 2. Asis well understood in the art a plurality of these plates may be assembled inv a bank with a common shaft connecting t-he arms 2 thereof wherebythe several -arms may be operated in unison. It may therefore be assumed vthat there is but a single plate or a plurality of platesl banked and conne'cted to be operatedin unison as Just mentioned. In the past such devices have been operated by hand through the medium of levers secured to the rack mem-l bers 4.

I shall now describe the controller shown for automatically operating the rack member in either direction and to any predetermined degree to obtain the desired movement of the controlling arm or arms 2. This controller includes two pinions 5 and 6 between which is disposed an extension. 7 of the' rack member 4. The pinions revolve in the same direction. The portion 7 of the rack. member is provided on opposite sides with toothed rack portions 8 and 9 adapted tomesh with thev pinions 5 and 6 respectively. As will later be described the portion 7 is normally maintained in a position with both o'f the rack portions 8 and 9 outv of engagement with the pinions 5 and G but is movable in opposite directions from said normal position to cause either rack portion 'to engage its respective pinion. Obviously with the pinions revolving in the same direction the member.7 may be thrown into engagementwith one pinion for. moving the controller arm 2 in a clock wise direction and into engagement with the relatively opposite side of the other pinion for moving said arm in a counter clock wise direction. `The degree of movement of the arm of course depends upon the length of time that Y the rack is held 1n engagement with the pinions or upon the length of time the pinions are revolved. The rack portions 8 and 9 are proportioned relatively to the maximum angular movement desired of the controlling arm so that they will disengage the pinions at the limits of movement of the arm 2. This obviates the necessity of providing limiting devices for of course the movement of the armceases as soon as the rack portions disengage the pinions.

In practice the pinions 5 and 6 may be operated continuously from any suitable source of power or may be operated only when operation of the controlled device is desired. In practiceespecially where intermittent operation of the pinions 5 and 6 is desired I prefer to operate the same by an electrlc motor 10. Of course the pinions may be geared to the motor in any preferred way. As illustrated the pinions are driven through wor'm gearing 11 and 12 respectively in turn operated by a shaft 13 connected to the motor shaft through worm gearing 14.

For moving the rack member into engagement with either the pinion 5 or 6 to secure operation of the arm 2 in the desired direction, I have provided two small solenoids 15 y'and 16. The plungers of these solenoids are connected by a link 17 which supports the` free end of theA rack member, said free end of the rack member being free to slide longitudinally in said link. The solenoids 15 and 16 when energized pull in opposite directions. The solenoid 15 when energized pulls the rack member upwardly throwing.

the rack portion 8 thereof into engagement with pinion 5, while the solenoid 16 pulls the rack member downwardly, throwing the rack portion 9 thereof into' engagement with the pinion 6. As before stated I desire to normally hold the rack member out of engagement with both pinions, and 6.A This may be accomplished vin various different ways. As illustrated I have provided on the frame .of the solenoid 16 two upwardly extending rods 18 upon'which is slidably mounted a cross member 19 adapted to abut against a portion 20' of the link 17.

Surrounding the rods 18 are coil springs 21 tending to force the cross member 19 upwardly against stops 22 on said rod-s. This of course tends to raise th link 17 and accordingly move the rack member toward` the pinion 5. The stops 22 however are so f will by merely energizing one or the other or'v pinions is not required various different protor. In practice, however, I prefer to proadjustedv as to .limit the upward movement of the cross memberto such an extent as to i prevent the rack froin being moved into engagement with the pinion 45l but permitting suiiicient movement of said cross member to free the rack from the pinion 6. Thus the rack member is "normally held out of engagement with both pinions. 's The engagement between-the rack member and theoperating pinions being controlled by the solenoids 15 and 16 it is obvious that the controlled device lmay be regulated at the solenoids and starting the driving motor. As before stated, however, the pinions 5 and 6 may be -continuously operated if so d es ired.- Where continuous .operation of the visions may be made for controlling the movide means whereby the motor and solenoids may be controlled by common'switches and I have illustrated such arrangement.

In the arrangement illustrated I have probuttons 26 and 27, the former controlling solenoid-15V and the latter controlling solenoid' 16.

' I shall now describe the manner of controlling the solenoids and motor to secure the desired operation of the dimmer controlling arm 2, at the same time clearly describing the circuit connections'shown. Current is supplied to the solenoids and motor from supply lines 28'and 29. Assuming now that .it is desired to operate the controller arm 2, through the medium of the pinion 5, push button 26 is operated. This closes a circuit from main line v28 by con ductor 30 through the push button 26 and the operating winding of solenoid 15 by conductor 31 to line 29. Solenoid 15 there'-l upon responds, throwing the rack member into engagement with pinion 5. At the same time it closes switch 24, completing a circuit from main line 28 by conductors `30 andv 32 I through switch 24 by, conductor 33 through the motor windings by conductor34 to line 29. The motor is thus set in operation, thereby revolvlng the pinionY 5 and moving the controller arm 2 in a direction corresponding to the direction of the rotation of the pinion 5. The motor will remain in' operation and continue to move the controller arm 2 until the push button 26 -is released.l e

Upon release of the. push button 26 the 'solenoid 15 is denergized allowing the rack member to return to normal position and opening the switch 24 to interrupt the motor circuit.

Assuming now that it isdesired tomove the arm 2 in the opposite direction, the push button 27 is closed. This completes acircuitfrom-line 28 by conductor 35 Athrough push button 27 and the operating winding 015-v solenoid 16 by'conductor 36 to line 29. Solenoid 16 thereupon responds, moving the rack member into engagement with the pin-V ion.6. -At the same time it closes switch 25 V'which completes the motor circuit from line 28 by conductors 35 and 37 through switch 25. by conductorv 38 to conductor- 33V and lthence through the motor windings as already traced. The motor is thus again set in operation but this time operates the rack member and arm 2 through the medium of pinion 6 and accordingly in an opposite direction to that previously described. The motor will remain in operation until the push button 27 is released'to denergize s0- lenoid y16 whereupon the rack member will return to normal position and the switch will open interrupting the motor circuit.

It will thus be seen that the controlled device may be operated in either direction by merely pressing one of the push buttons in accordance with the results desired and that the degree of movement of the controlled device is determined by the length of time that the push buttons are held closed. It

will further be observed that the push buttons may be arranged at any convenient point either in proximity to the controlled device 0r remote therefrom.

In practice a plurality of separate devices or separate banks of devices may be operated by a single motor as exemplified in Fig.

. 2. In this figure I have shown two sets of driving pinions 5. and 6, said sets being designated as Av and B. Both of these sets of pinions are geared in the manner shown in Fig. 1 to a common shaft 39 driven by motor l0. Eachset is adapted t0 operate an independent rack member which it may be assumed operate separate devices such as the device shown in Fig. l; In conjunction with each set of driving pinions I have provided a controller of the same type as that shown in Fig. l', they controllers being designated as A and B. The controllers A and B are entirely independent except for cross unison by simultaneously operating corresponding push buttons of the two controllers.. Still further, the controlled' devices may be simultaneously operated in opposite directions by pressing non-corresponding buttons of the two controllers and this with but a single driving motor. Accordingly it will be seen that. any desired operation of the controlled devices may be readily obtained by 'pressing the different con-trol buttons.

While I have only-'shown provisions for operating two separate devices fromthe same motor it should be understood that a single motor may be used for operating a greater number -of separate devices. It should also be understood that the speed of the motor might be regulated by any suitable means for regulating the speed of the controllers or varying the speed of the controllers from time to time as desired. For example such a speed regulation might be obtained by an armature regulating rheostat 40 such as that illustrated in Fig. 2 or by any other suitable means.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

l. In a controller for a plurality of rheostats to be operated individually or collectively, the combination with a common driving motor for the rheostats, of individual and releasable rheostat driving connections and individual controllers for the rheostats each adapted to set and release the driving connection of its respective rheostat and to start and stop said motor, said co trollers being interconnected to subordinate each to the remainder thereof for stopping said motor.

2.4 In a controller for a plurality of rheostats to be operated individually or collectively, the combination with a common driving motor for the rheostats, of individual and releasable rheostat driving connections and individual electro-responsive controllers for the rheostats each adapted when energized to establish the driving connection of its respective rheostat and to start said motor and when-denergized to eiect release of such driving connection and to stop said motor and interconnectionsfor said controllers rendering each subordinate to the other in stopping said motor.

3. In a controller for a plurality of rheostats to be operated individually or collectively, the combination with a common driving motor for the rheostats, individual rheostat driving connections each releasable and reversible, individualcontrollers for the rheostats, each adapted to set the driving connection of its respective rheostat for( reverse operations thereof selectively by said motor and to start and stop said motorand interconnections between said controllers rendering each subordinate to the remainder for stopping said motor.

l. In a controller for a plurality of rheostats to be operated individually or collectively, the combination with a commondriving motor for the rheostats, individual rheostat driving connections each releasable and reversible, individual electro-responsive controllers for the rheostats, each being responsive to set the driving connection of its respective rheostat for reverse operations selectively and to start and stop` said motor scribed my naine inthe presence of two Witand being adapted when denergized to renesses. f lease such driving connection and stop said motor and interconnections between said LEWIS L TATUM' 5 controllers rendering each subordinate to the Wltnesse:

remainder for stopping said motor. WALTER E. SARGENT,

. `In Witnesswhereof, I have hereunto Sub- FRANK H. HUBBRD." 

